Luis Rodriguez: Underappreciated greatness

Luis Rodriguez: Underappreciated greatness
The island of Cuba has been a conveyor belt for high class boxers for over a century now and ever since Kid Chocolate became the island nations first world champion in 1931 they have been one of the sport’s leading producers of world champions. The colorful Kid Chocolate was a pioneer in style and was a big favorite among New York crowds in his time and then Kid Gavilan was a TV favorite in the 1940’s and 1950’s before Jose Napoles would become a national icon in his adopted Mexico and a fan favorite in Los Angeles in the 1960’s and 1970’s but for all his talents, the great Luis Rodriguez has generally gone on to be one of history’s most underrated champions. Rodriguez, himself a charismatic and personable individual with plenty of style and ring excellence had a truly great career but has generally flown under the radar. Measure his qualities as a fighter or his career resume and he’s arguably as good as any of his countrymen – if not better. Rodriguez was one of the greatest fighters of the 1960’s and of the most talented fighters of any era, a true all-time great fighter.

El Feo
Rodriguez was born on June 17th, 1937 in Camaguey, the nation’s third largest city, also the birthplace of Kid Gavilan. He grew up in poverty and as a child had various jobs from shining shoes to selling newspapers as he learned to box. As an amateur he won a national Golden Gloves title by knocking out 10 consecutive opponents. Nicknamed “El Feo”, which is Spanish for ugly, his style and personality were anything but ugly. “People kid me,” he said, “but to me it is a joke. I don’t mind when they call me feo viejo. It means ‘old ugly.’ I tell them I really think I’m pretty. But there are mirrors, you see. They do not lie. But—you pretty in the face is nothing. The wonderful of a person is in your heart. I am rich there, here in my heart, and some day I will be rich in my pocket. I hope so.”

Writing in Sports Illustrated in 1963, Robert H. Boyle said; ‘Rodriguez is a clown, a friendly clown. He has the furrowed forehead of a bloodhound and the nose of Cyrano. “Cyrano and I,” he says, “have more in common than our noses. We are both poets.” A Cuban exile, Rodriguez now lives in Miami and boxes out of Angelo Dundee’s vast stable. He likes to sing, play the piano and dance. He is simpatico. At his training camp, Tamarack Lodge up in the Catskills, he appeared in the nightclub where his act included “an old song from my country,” Bei Mir Bist du Schoen, in Yiddish.”

In his book on Cuban boxing, historian Enrique Encinosa described seeing Rodriguez as a youngster: “The first time I saw him, I was a little kid and he, a dozen years older, was then a young pro, undefeated in Havana rings. He stood on the sidewalk and performed for the children who recognized him, shadowboxing, soft shoe dancing and capping off the performance with an opera aria song with a clear, crisp voice. Then he shook our hands and walked away, laughing. He was cool by anyone’s standards.”

The 1950’s were a golden generation for Cuban boxing with a booming amateur program and hundreds of professional boxers. Professional boxing shows were being promoted regularly in multiple cities and many outstanding fighters such as the legendary Gavilan, Nino Valdes, Luis Galvani, Pupi Garcia, Isaac Logart and many more.

Rodriguez was a superbly well rounded fighter who could do it all in the boxing ring. The technical skills were there – he had excellent technique, his long left jab was very accurate, he threw textbook right hands from the lead or counter positions and possessed a fine left hook in addition to being an excellent body puncher. He was excellent in the intangibles department also, having a warriors fighting spirit to match his iron jaw and seemingly limitless stamina. Stylistically he was a nightmare for opponents because in addition to all of the aforementioned qualities he had long arms, long skinny legs, fast feet and could move all fight long. Rodriguez was a busy fighter who was adept at moving and throwing punches, consistently able to land hurtful blows whilst moving away from an opponent or simply overwhelming them with volume when moving forward. He was not a dazzling fighter in the manner of a Sugar Ray Leonard but he was a superb all-around fighter with barely any real weaknesses.

Rodriguez was fearless, he was always more than willing to step in as a late replacement and give the opponent a sizeable weight advantage and would fight regularly fight in the opponent’s hometown. A true professional to the core, Rodriguez always stayed in fighting condition and fought often. The level of activity and consistency he maintained throughout his career speaks volumes about the type of boxer he was and the type of professional he was. He was a fighter who would do extremely well in any era because he also had many different ways to win a fight and overcome a plethora of different styles throughout his career.

A legendary career begins
Rodriguez turned professional on June 2, 1956 in Havana and fought his first 22 bouts in the same city with most of those appearances being at Palacio de Deportes. Among those fights Rodriguez did fight some very strong adversaries such as future welterweight champion Benny Paret (whom he outpointed twice), Charley Scott, Juan Padilla, Cecil Shorts, Guillermo Diaz, Rolando Rodriguez, Charlie Austin, Gomeo Brennan, Joe Miceli and Kid Fichique, whom Rodriguez outpointed for the Cuban welterweight title. It was around this time that Cuban became a fully socialist country so prizefighters like Rodriguez had to seriously think of a life in different lands if they wanted to continue their boxing careers.

June 17th, 1959 was the first time Rodriguez fought outside of Cuba when he came up against the number two ranked welterweight in the world, Virgil Akins. Akins had lost his two previous bouts on points which were both for the world championship against Don Jordan but he also owned victories over such notable fighters as Tony DeMarco, Isaac Logart and Joe Brown. Rodriguez would outpoint Akins by wide margins of the judges’ scorecards to take the number two ranking off of him. Next up was Rudell Stitch who Rodriguez clearly outpointed in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Stitch was also an upcoming challenger who had defeated some of the leading contenders like Logart, Fichique in addition to Yama Bahama, Gaspar Ortega and Chico Vejar. After the loss to Rodriguez he would go on to defeat Holly Mims and Ralph Dupas but unfortunately his promising career was cut short when he drowned trying to save a friend at age 27 on June 5th, 1960, just a day before he was to sign for a re-match with Rodriguez.

Rodriguez had a fight back home in Cuba on October 3rd, 1959 against Larry Baker before returning to Miami in a bid to secure a world title shot. Isaac Logart would be his next opponent on October 21st of that year. Logart, like Rodriguez was also born in Camaguey but had fought many fights in the United States. Logart was an excellent fighter and was a veteran of 75 fights when he faced Rodriguez. His list of victims included the likes of Yama Bahama, Virgil Akins, Gaspar Ortega, Rudell Stitch, Gil Turner, Ludwig Light burn, Ramon Fuentes and Baby Vasquez. Logart started strongly against Rodriguez, carrying the action through the first four rounds before Rodriguez came on strongly and took over the fight with left hooks to the head and body to earn a unanimous decision over his fellow Cuban. After the bout Rodriguez’ manager Ernest Corrales started to beat the drums for his fighter to get a crack at the World welterweight championship held by Don Jordan. “Rodriguez KO’d Charley Scott in the 9th round last year in Havana. Scott is now the number one contender, but he won’t fight us again. Luis is ready for any welterweight in the world, including the champion, Don Jordan. He could whip Don Jordan right now.”

Unfortunately for Rodriguez that shot wasn’t coming so he had to make do with fighting regularly with the rest of the top contenders who were willing to face him. Next up was Philadelphia’s Garnett Hart who was outpointed over the distance in Miami Beach. This bout started a little slowly before becoming an all out war with both fighters bleeding from cuts over their eyes and finishing the fight exhausted. Rodriguez activity kept Hart off balance and unable to create enough room to land his best shots. The undefeated Carl Hubbard, also from Philadelphia was next for Rodriguez. This fight was nationally televised and proved to be an excellent performance from Rodriguez as he stopped Hubbard inside four rounds with a devastating left hook attack. Up to this point most of Rodriguez’ showcase fights were going the full distance but he had sent a statement in the dismantling of Hubbard. “He could handle the other guys by just slapping them around and boxing them. But he was insulted by so many people saying he was a fancy Dan and could not punch, and he was determined to knock Hubbard out”, said trainer Angelo Dundee after the bout.

Rodriguez took on the very popular Chico Vejar in his next bout on March 2nd, 1960 in Miami Beach. Vejar had never won a world title but was one of the most popular TV fighters of this time and had fought with many of the premier fighters of his day. Rodriguez dropped Vejar in the sixth round and handily won over the ten round distance to run his record to 28-0. Next up for Rodriguez was headlining a couple of bouts at the iconic Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. He stopped a couple of Mexican fighters by the names of Alvaro Gutierrez and Alfredo Cota in four and two rounds respectively. Rodriguez then came back to Louisville, Kentucky to re-match the man he made his US debut against, Virgil Akins. The fight was held in benefit for the family of the deceased Rudell Stitch with one third of the gate going to them. Akins had some success early even stunning Rodriguez in the second and third rounds before Rodriguez took complete control of the fight landing multiple combinations on Akins.

Rodriguez would go back to Cuba August 17th, 1960, a fifth-round knockout of Basil Campbell. This would be the last time Rodriguez fought in his homeland as sport was completely outlawed on a professional level in 1961. The amateur program in Cuba has remained strong to this day with multiple medal winners in Olympic tournaments but a land which was once a hotbed for professional boxing that hosted major fights such as Jack Johnson vs. Jess Willard in 1915 has not seen a professional fight since the banishment of professional sports there. “I was in Cuba three days after the revolution. I stayed at the Hilton, where Castro stayed. At that time Castro still wanted things to go on as usual and he wanted there to be a boxing show. He was at the card with his brother Raul and Che Guevera. The atmosphere was always sensational at the fights in Cuba, but now there were soldiers with machine guns at the fights. One guy, his machine gun went off straight in the air. What a scene that caused. That last time I went, when I was going through airport, security was very tight. They checked everything but the kitchen sink. I said to myself, I’m not going back there anymore”, said Angelo Dundee. From Dundee’s frequent trips to Cuba, he had built a large network there. “I used to go to Cuba about every other week. I used to bring American fighters over and got to know the Cuban promoters. When Castro outlawed pro boxing, they came over here and it was, ‘Please, Angelo work with me’, really it was a pleasure to work with them” he said.

“They came in bunches and they came looking for Angelo Dundee. Angelo had been going to Cuba for years, taking fighters to the island, working closely with Cuco Conde and Martinez Connil, who were the top promoters in Cuba. All Cuban fighters knew Angelo and he had a solid reputation having worked with Carmen Basilio and a lot of other good fighters. At the time the Cubans arrived, Angie had WilliePastrano and a young Olympian named Cassius Clay. What he signed up in a few weeks was phenomenal: Luis Rodriguez, Florentino Fernandez, Douglas Valliant, Robinson Garcia and a score of the best talent in the boxing trade”, said historian Hank Kaplan on the period of the Cuban Revolution in boxing.

“Luis Rodriguez and I came to exile together,” said Luis Sarria. “When Castro took over he abolished pro boxing but it took him a couple of years to get around to doing it and boxers were allowed to fight in other countries. Luis and I travelled to the United States several times. Once, after a fight, we were both in the dressing room and I told him, ‘you go back home alone this time.’ Luis looked at me and said ‘Sarria, are you staying? I said to him ‘Yes, I cannot go back to that crap.’ Luis looked at me, nodded and said, “I am staying also. I feel the same”

No looking back
There was no turning back now for Rodriguez who’d made his permanent home in Miami Beach. This period would probably represent the golden generation of professional boxers to come out of Cuba. Other notable fighters that defected included the two future Hall of Fame members Jose Napoles and Sugar Ramos both of whom made their home in Mexico, Jose Legra who ended up in Spain after failing to settle in Mexico, Benny Paret who settled in New York and Florentino Fernandez who joined Rodriguez at the 5th street gym in Miami Beach. It was at this gym where Rodriguez struck up a friendship with a young heavyweight named Cassius Clay. Clay of course went on to become Muhammad Ali and remained friends with Rodriguez. “Luis was very fond of Muhammad and vice-versa,” said historian Hank Kaplan. “Even though Luis was a welterweight and Muhammad was a heavyweight, they occasionally sparred. Muhammad always studied Luis in the gym. There is no question that Muhammad incorporated some of what he saw in Luis into his own repertoire.”

“The people who saw him train in Chris Dundee’s 5th Street Gym in Miami realized what they were witnessing was a superbly conditioned skilled fighter whose style was emulated by a young Cassius Clay. Sugar Ray Robinson might have been his idol, but what we saw from Cassius was a Luis Rodriguez in the works”, said Roger.

After a tune-up against Mel Collins in Tampa, Florida, Rodriguez faced the very credible Yama Bahama. Bahama was a leading contender and had defeated the great Kid Gavilan in the Cuban legends last fight. Rodriguez defeated Bahama via a majority decision in Miami and then 12 days later went to San Francisco, California to defeat local favorite Johnny Gonsalves via unanimous decision.

The start of a rivalry

Closing out 1960, Rodriguez would make his maiden appearance at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden against Emile Griffith on December 17th. Griffith, originally from the U.S Virgin Islands now based in New York had become a local favorite. His record was 21-2 at this point and included wins over such notable boxers as Jorge Fernandez, Gaspar Ortega, Kid Fichique, Willie Toweel and a pair of split bouts with Denny Moyer.
The action was close during the first two rounds before Griffith landed a clean left hook in the third round which momentarily shook Rodriguez. The fight got a little sloppy towards the middle with a lot of clinching but when Rodriguez could fight at distance he was able to control the action better with the use of his jab and counter right hands. Griffith looked a little frustrated and the more tired of the two as Rodriguez was focused on a relentless body attack. After 10 close rounds the decision went to Griffith via split decision and the announcement was met with boos from a large number of the Madison Square Garden crowd. Of the 16 ringside writers who were polled after the fight, 7 favored Rodriguez with 6 preferring Griffith whereas 3 couldn’t pick between the two and scored it even.

“I got lucky, I defeated him. I was pretty scared of Rodriguez. He had a big reputation, undefeated in 35 fights. He was good”, said Griffith reflecting on the fight.

Headed out west
1961 started out with two fights back in California for Rodriguez as he attempted to rebuild from the controversial defeat to Griffith. He stopped Lyle Mackin on cuts in five rounds and then repeated his unanimous decision victory over Gonsalves. These bouts both took place in Oakland and were a month apart in February and March. Rodriguez then went over to Mexico to fight re-matches with the two fighters he’d beaten in Los Angeles the year prior, Alvaro Gutierrez and Alfredo Cota. Rodriguez scored stoppage wins over both fighters again in five and four rounds respectively.

On August 3rd, 1961 Rodriguez went to Dallas to fight Curtis Cokes. The flight from Miami to Dallas was hijacked to Cuba which postponed the fight one week. Rodriguez started the fight well using his superior speed and jabs to befuddle the Texan but then found himself on the canvas as the result of a straight right hand in the fifth round. Rodriguez looked a little more sluggish than usual the rest of the bout. Cokes took a split decision after 10 rounds which Rodriguez and his camp disagreed with. “He was lucky to get in that good punch. That was the only one that hurt me”, Rodriguez said after the bout. The pair would re-match four months later this time in Rodriguez’ adopted hometown of Miami. Rodriguez was dominant this time winning via near shut out. Sandwiched between the Cokes bouts were two knockout victories for Rodriguez keeping his busy schedule up to pace.
Next up for Rodriguez was the experienced Luis Federico Thompson, a Panamanian boxer fighting out of Argentina. Rodriguez had fought Benny Paret closely in a losing effort for the welterweight title a little over a year prior to meeting Rodriguez. Rodriguez dominated Thompson in an entertaining fight. Rodriguez mixed in his usual array of combinations upstairs, kept a constant body attack up and Thompson had a difficult time avoiding Rodriguez’ excellent jab and was dominated thoroughly over the 10 round distance losing a lopsided verdict on all three cards.

Rodriguez was back in the ring a little over six weeks later scoring a quick knockout of Argentina’s Ricardo Falech. Yama Bahama then got his re-match with Rodriguez and was dominated and stopped in three rounds. Rodriguez opened a nasty cut to Bahama’s forehead in the first round with a right-left combination and then opened another cut with a glancing right hand in the third round. The next opponent for Rodriguez was the talented Gene Armstrong in a middleweight bout. Armstrong’s only losses had come at the hands of the great Dick Tiger. Rodriguez dominated the fight throughout, scoring a knockdown in the 4th round before putting Armstrong the ropes in the 5th round. Rodriguez kept up his high volume and intensity attack until the 8th round when Armstrong could no longer defend himself when the referee stopped the contest.

Rodriguez stayed bust the rest of the year closing out 1962 with three dominant victories before scheduling a fight with the excellent Joey Giambra. Giambra had previously stopped Rodriguez’ stable mate Florentino Fernandez and owned a 2-1 series win over future hall of fame member Joey Giardello in addition to victories over such notable fighters as Ralph Jones, Rory Calhoun, Gil Turner, Chico Vejar and Rocky Castellani. Despite being outweighed by 10 pounds Rodriguez put on a masterful display using constant movement and furious combinations from multiple angles. Giambra never looked in danger of being taken out but he was never in the fight as Rodriguez added another impressive unanimous decision to his growing resume.

Top of the World

Finally on March 21st at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, Rodriguez got his long awaited shot at the welterweight world championship. By now the champion was Emile Griffith having won, lost and regained the championship in his trilogy with Benny Paret. The final bout resulted in the death of Paret after a heated build up. Griffith had taken the scalps of Yama Bahama, Isaac Logart, Ralph Dupas and a rubber match victory over Denny Moyer and entered with a 35-3 record. Rodriguez entered as a slight underdog with a 50-2 record.

The fight had a similar pattern early with some close rounds slightly edged by Griffith by virtue of his superior aggression, harder punches and strength making the difference. Rodriguez started fairly cautiously and was slightly behind after the first five rounds. He was able to get into more of a grove around the sixth round as his body punches were having an effect on Griffith and whenever he could fight with some distance he got the better of the action with his jab and superior countering. Griffith struggled with this style so seemed to focus more on making it an inside fight and tying up Rodriguez when he could. This resulted in a lot of cancelling each other out as Rodriguez tried to work his way out of the clinches. The best round for Rodriguez came in the ninth round where he was able to land the cleaner shots, get the better of the exchanges and walked Griffith into an excellent counter right hand which sent Griffith back to the ropes. The 10th round was a bit slower and the action was fairly even down the stretch with Griffith starting a number of the rounds stronger with Rodriguez closing them out better with his fast flurries and body attacks. Much like their first fight it was another close fight with a lot of high quality between two great fighters but also some messy action with clinches. Rodriguez was awarded the decision on a unanimous decision and lifted the title from Griffth. As he was lifted in the air by his handlers he was asked how it felt to become champion and whether he’d give Griffith a shot at his newly acquired title. “I feel very good. I feel great. I would like to fight anybody in the welterweight division”, he said. Unfortunately, Rodriguez’ crowning moment was overshadowed when Davey Moore collapsed as a result of injuries sustained in his unsuccessful title defense against Rodriguez’ compatriot Sugar Ramos and died days later.

A controversial dethroning
The two would fight again just three months later, this time back on Griffith’s home turf of Madison Square Garden on June 8th. A lot of the pre fight talk centered on the judging with many claiming Rodriguez would get no favors in Griffith’s hometown. It was speculated that Garden matchmaker Teddy Brenner was not exactly a stranger around the Griffith camp. Rodriguez was beaming with confidence at the weigh-in the morning of the fight, “I’ll win easy”, he proclaimed. Griffith knew he had to keep his aggression up throughout the fight, “I never go into the ring trying to knock a guy out,” Griffith said. “But if the opportunity comes, I try to take advantage of it. I’m going to keep the pressure on him.”

Griffith came to the ring to a chorus of cheers whereas Rodriguez was booed by the pro Griffith crowd as he entered the ring. Griffith forced the action more in the early rounds, which followed the pattern of their previous two encounters. Rodriguez was boxing on the back foot, looking for opportunities to counter. The crowd would let out a great roar every time Griffith let his hands go but he was missing a lot of shots. Griffith appeared to have a slight edge through the first five rounds before Rodriguez seized control of the action in round six. Referee Jimmy Devlin broke a lot of the clinching which favored Rodriguez as he was able to box and move in addition to landing the cleaner shots. Griffith struggled through the sixth through to the tenth rounds, seemingly running out of ideas how to keep with the Cuban. Griffith was staggered briefly in the seventh round, but did land the best blow of the round in the eighth. Rodriguez then went back to countering and moving as he made Griffith miss often whilst piling up the points. The late rounds featured more toe to toe action and a lot of fast exchanges as Griffith fought to get his way back into the fight after a strong 11th round. Rodriguez appeared to get the better of the exchanges. Before the 15th round, a reporter nodded to Rodriguez and said, “Can’t lose.” Rodriguez stayed away in the final round which enabled Griffith to take the round on aggression but it appeared to not make much of a difference as Rodriguez had seemingly piled up enough points to retain his championship. Much to the amazement of the writers on press row, Griffith was awarded a split decision. 17 on press row scored it for Rodriguez with only six agreeing with the official verdict.

“I felt good,” he said. “My punches were starting to hit the mark. I was taking command of the fight”, said Rodriguez after the fight before sharing his distraught at the controversial decision which took his title from him. “Before the fight,” he said, “I hear people say Griffith will get home-town decision. I read Dan Parker’s column. I have nothing against Griffith. He is a good boy. He is my friend. It was a close fight, but I won it. I don’t think there is any question about it. I won it. I scored the fight 8-6-1. They have to give me a return fight. I guess it was like everybody said a Teddy Brenner decision.” The Cubans in the crowd shouted their disapproval of the decision and could be heard outside of the decision shouting, “It was a Teddy Brenner decision.” Angelo Dundee was visibly livid chiming in, “Where did they get those incompetent bums? Why is it they come up consistently, conveniently with a split decision? I know one thing, I’ve got to keep my champions out of New York” he said.

Working his way back
Rodriguez, now unjustly an ex-champion wasted little time scheduling a significant bout as he squared off with Denny Moyer just two months later. Moyer, a former world champion in the recently established junior middleweight division had won the title defeating former Rodriguez foe Joey Giambra before losing a pair of razor thin decisions to Ralph Dupas. He held victories over a trio of hall of fame members – Sugar Ray Robinson, Emile Griffith and Tony DeMarco including excellent victories over Johnny Saxton, Virgil Akins, Paddy DeMarco, Benny Paret, Gaspar Ortega and Charley Scott. The bout took part at the Convention Center in Miami Beach in the middleweight division with Rodriguez giving up six pounds. In one of his most dazzling performances, Rodriguez completely dominated the larger man from the outset with deadly accurate punches in bunches before the referee halted the bout in the ninth round with Moyer unable to continue after being knocked down in the eighth and ninth rounds. It was the first time Moyer had ever been stopped. “The Moyer fight was a magnificent performance. It was really amazing the way Luis plowed right through the middleweights. He fought the top fighters in the world in their backyards, spotted pounds and licked them. Those that wanted a second shot, he gave a re-match and then licked them again,” said Hank Kaplan. “Luis was unfazed. He was never bothered by how big a fighter was or how many knockouts he had. He was a welterweight fighting middleweights and light heavyweights and if they would have let him, he would have fought Ali” he also said. Stable mate Frankie Otero said the same about Rodriguez’ ability to take on larger fighters. “At the Fifth Street Gym he sparred with fighters that were 10, 20, 30 pounds heavier. Guys like Florentino Fernandez and Willie Pastrano and Luis was trouble for anyone.”

 

On October 18th, Rodriguez headlined a Friday night fight card at Madison Square Garden against Olympic gold medalist and hot middleweight prospect Wilbert ‘Skeeter’ McClure. The fight was entertaining with Rodriguez proving far too skilled and experienced as he outscored McClure over the distance. After a competitive first two rounds Rodriguez dropped McClure with an expertly timed right hand to the jaw but found McClure an elusive target as he went in for the finish. Rodriguez took charge of the fight and didn’t let up but was full of praise for his foe afterwards. “He’s a very good prospect. He has a very good left hand. I think he can become the middleweight champion unless I am the champion,” Rodriguez said after the fight. McClure graciously was full of praise for the man who took his unbeaten record, “He beat me, no question about it. It’s no shame losing to Luis Rodriguez”, said McClure. The pair engaged in a re-match just two months later this time headlining in Miami with a very similar outcome. Rodriguez won handily again also scoring a knockdown of McClure.

In 1964 Rodriguez was desperate to get a crack at the title he and many others felt he was robbed off in the third Griffith fight and stayed busy fighting some of the top challengers in the middleweight division. He stepped in as a late replacement for Joey Archer headlining a Friday night fights card at Madison Square Garden against the excellent Holly Mims. As was a common theme in most Rodriguez fights he started a little slowly as the larger Mims was able to force the action over the first two rounds before Rodriguez came to terms with the fight and consistently beat Mims to the punch throughout the rest of the fight earning a dominant decision victory. Just two weeks later Rodriguez was back fighting on home turf with a ten round routing of the capable Jesse Smith. This fight showcased the usual offensive repertoire for Rodriguez and he mixed in some excellent defensive boxing particularly in the 7th round and then went toe-to-toe in a thrilling action packed ninth stanza.

The final chapter of an epic rivalry

Rodriguez would receive his much deserved crack at Griffith on June 12, this time in Las Vegas at the Convention Center. The fourth bout would prove to be perhaps the most entertaining of the series. The two started out at a brisk pace with Griffith trying to impose his strength early as he gained a slight edge in the first three rounds. Rodriguez was deducted a point for low blows in the third round and found himself in a little bit of a hole early. However, in the fourth round Rodriguez got into an excellent rhythm as Griffith appeared to tire somewhat and look a bit more ragged than he had throughout the other bouts in the series. By the eighth round Griffith showed some visible frustration as he was having a difficult time pinning down the elusive Cuban and his attacks consisted of breaking Rodriguez’ offense with a lot of roughhousing and clinching. The middle rounds were very entertaining but the fight did get a little scrappy down the stretch which is where Griffith came into things a little bit more and was able to win a couple of rounds before Rodriguez got the better of the final round. Yet again the two had engaged in a furious, fast paced bout which featured momentum changes and once again they’d gone the full distance. The action in this bout was probably closest to the action in the third fight with Griffith starting slightly better due to his superior physical strength before Rodriguez started to pull away with his superior movement and boxing skill. Griffith was able to stop the momentum as he was able to pin Rodriguez down in close and have some success. Rodriguez was never outclassed or overwhelmed inside just as Griffith was never completely outclassed at distance, as he was able to land some jabs and hooks of his own. The judges rendered their verdict and once again, Griffith had edged out another split decision much to the dismay of Rodriguez and his handlers. “I won’t try to win back that welterweight title because Griffith and his friends have got things too well organized for me to ever win it again”, said a clearly frustrated Rodriguez after the fight. Griffith set his sights on the middleweight title after the fight. This was to be the final meeting that the pair would engage in with Griffith winning the series 3-1, his victories all by split decision opposing the one unanimous verdict of the series for Rodriguez. All four bouts were fought at a fast pace, with plenty of close rounds but the final score line of the series is very harsh on Rodriguez, who appeared to be no less than the equal of Griffith. In most of the fights it appeared that Rodriguez was Griffith’s master in a lot of areas whilst Griffith could never quite figure out who to get the better of his mans so he resorted to a lot of smothering and clinching.

“Rodriguez moved a lot. He was always busy, and he threw a lot of combinations. He was more of a boxer than a puncher – hit and move. He drove me crazy! I guess we got to know each other a little bit. Each time was a war and I had to make adjustments, always changing my style. Was he an all-time great fighter? I would say so”, Griffith.

The Hurricane
Frustrated at what he and many others felt was another unjust decision against the popular Griffith, Rodriguez took what for him was an unusually long layoff of five months. His next bout saw him return to Mexico to face off with LC Morgan and he was back to winning ways scoring a second round knockout of the veteran journeyman. Rodriguez opened up his 1965 campaign with another Madison Square Garden headline this time against the formidable Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter. The fight sold well at The Garden and despite holding a number three ranking in the middleweight division and a recent first round knockout of Griffith it was the third ranked welterweight Rodriguez who came in as the bookies 2-1 favorite. Carter had shown his class as a fighter by also defeating the brilliant George Benton, future heavyweight title holder Jimmy Ellis, Holly Mims and Florentino Fernandez by a brutal first round knockout. Rodriguez controlled most of the fight by intelligently using jab and move tactics while Carter struggled to get close to him. Rodriguez cut Carter in the third round but did suffer a flash knockdown in the seventh round and was caught cleanly in the ninth round. “Luis got up (from the knockdown) and nodded slightly as he looked towards our corner. When the round was over Luis sat on the stool and said, ‘that is not going to happen again” said Sarria. Rodriguez gave Carter a boxing lesson and won a wide decision. After the fight Carter admitted he had been beaten and showed clear frustration after 10 rounds with the Cuban master, “He won the fight,” Carter said afterwards. “But there ought to be a law against little men like him having arms that long.”

The pair would re-match six months later in Los Angeles at the Olympic with Rodriguez remaining busy in the interim fighting five times the highlight being a dominant three round victory of Memo Ayon fresh off a victory over an ancient Sugar Ray Robinson. Rodriguez had been lobbying for a shot at Joey Giardello’s middleweight crown but had to settle for the Carter re-match. The re-match was almost an exact replica of the first fight with Rodriguez’ jab and move tactics proving too difficult for Carter. Carter managed to buckle Rodriguez’ knees with a hard right hand in the fourth round but struggled to land many other significant blows and suffered another convincing decision defeat.

Beating Benton
Rodriguez closed out 1965 maintaining his busy schedule fighting four more times in a two month span which took his total bouts for the year up to 11 and started 1966 in the same vein with two January fights a week apart. The next big challenge came on March 7th when Rodriguez travelled to the hometown of Philadelphia’s George Benton. Benton was an excellent fighter who would later get inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as a trainer but as a fighter he was one of the finest of his day and the years proceeding it that never managed to win a world championship. He was a smooth and highly technical defensive boxer who would often stand in front of his opponents but expertly evade most shots with his bag of tricks. Among Benton’s victims was the highly decorated Joey Giardello and other top fighters such as Holly Mims, Lestor Felton, Freddie Little, Jesse Smith and Jimmy Ellis. Rodriguez expertly used his jab to control most of the action and badly cut Benton over the eye in the fifth round. The cut was under control for the most part until the ninth round when it started to flow a lot more profusely and when Benton kept on wiping at his eye the referee had no choice but to stop the contest and declare the Cuban a TKO winner in the ninth round. Rodriguez was back in Philadelphia five weeks later but would lose a surprising split decision to hometown fighter Percy Manning who entered as a 4-1 underdog. Manning had defeated the previously undefeated Bennie Briscoe and former world title challenger Jose Stable but few gave him a chance against Rodriguez.

Final elimination
A quick tune-up fight in San Juan, Puerto Rico was next for Rodriguez as journeyman Tommy Caldwell was dispatched in two rounds and then Rodriguez would face Curtis Cokes for a third time in a final eliminator for the welterweight championship. By this time Rodriguez was having an increasingly difficult time getting down to the welterweight limit but entered the bout in New Orleans as an 8-5 favorite. Things looked to be going his way early as he appeared to score a sixth-round knockdown on Cokes only for the referee to rule the punch a foul and take the round from Rodriguez. Cokes opened a cut under Rodriguez’ eye in the 10th round and forced a stoppage one minute into the 15th round with blood pouring out of Rodriguez’ mouth. Angelo Dundee was unhappy with the referee’s handling of the fight and aimed blame at him for the defeat. “My boy likes to bang downstairs. The ref takes the round away and in doing so, took the fight from my guy. Cokes was wearing his trunks darn near his chin”, he said after the fight. The rubber match with Cokes was to be the last which Rodriguez competed within the 147 pound limit of the welterweight division as he set his sets on middleweight gold.

Two trips to Argentina each with two bouts a piece came next for Rodriguez with one coming in September of 1966 and then in January of 1967. The first trip saw him stop Brazilian fighter Juarez de Lima in three rounds. Lima turned out to be a solid fighter who scored victories over Bennie Briscoe, Vicente Rondon, Jean Claude Bouttier, George Benton and Tom Bogs. The highlight of the 1967 trip was an eight round stoppage victory over the heavily experienced Manuel Alvarez.

Bad Bennie
On March 20th back in Philadelphia Rodriguez would face the popular up and coming middleweight prospect ‘Bad’ Bennie Briscoe. Briscoe would go on to have a storied career as one of the finest fighters to come out of the boxing rich city of Philadelphia and entered the bout with smaller Rodriguez coming off of his own ninth round stoppage victory of George Benton joining the Cuban as the only two men to ever stop Benton in his career. Rodriguez controlled most of the bout with his usual stick and move tactics as he piled up the points while Briscoe’s feet were too slow to catch up with him. The middle rounds were very dominant for Rodriguez as he was able to box Briscoe masterfully at distance and tie him up inside whenever Briscoe got close. The eighth round featured some heated exchanges but Briscoe lost the round when he landed an illegal head butt and the pair split the last two rounds with Rodriguez claiming a clear unanimous decision. Briscoe would go to Argentina in his very next fight and earn a draw with future middleweight legend Carlos Monzon.

Rodriguez took on the formidable Juan Carlos ‘Rocky’ Rivero in Puerto Rico in his next bout. Rivero was a huge middleweight who owned wins over Florentino Fernandez and Rubin Carter. He had also pushed Joey Giardello close on two occasions losing decisions each time. Rodriguez scored a dominant unanimous decision victory over Rivero. “Rivero was made for me,” Rodriguez said. “He was a tank, very strong and a solid, hard puncher but he was not fast and he telegraphed his punches. I put a leather factor on his face. I punched and counterpunched and he missed me all night” he added.

Just a little over three weeks later Rodriguez returned to California to face the solid Jimmy Lester in Oakland. Lester, a strong and hard hitting middleweight contender had previously split a pair of bouts with Denny Moyer and had blasted out Florentino Fernandez in two rounds. Rodriguez gave the Californian a boxing lesson whilst scoring knockdowns in the opening and closing rounds. Lester had some success in trapping the Cuban master in the opening round before being sent to his knees by a counter right hand and then whilst forcing the action in the 10th round was caught with the right hand again and sent tumbling. Rodriguez claimed a wide unanimous decision and credited his conditioning for winning the bout. “Lester’s very strong and punches hard, but I made him fight my fight. If I wasn’t in good condition he would have knocked me out. I was never hurt but he never stopped coming. It was a tough fight” he said afterwards.

Another fight in Oakland followed for Rodriguez as he faced tough Nebraskan Ferd Hernandez. Hernandez had defeated an aging Sugar Ray Robinson, Jose Gonzalez and like Rodriguez was coming off of a win over Jimmy Lester. Rodriguez claimed a wide unanimous decision victory using a steady stream of jabs to the head and a busy body attack. Rodriguez would then go to Venezuela to engage in three bouts the highlight bout being a one round demolition of previous conqueror Percy Manning.
Closing out 1967 at Madison Square Garden, Rodriguez was again pitted against Philadelphia’s Briscoe. The fight proved to be almost a replica of the bout nine months prior as Briscoe couldn’t catch up to Rodriguez or avoid the jab in his face. Briscoe drew some boos from the crowd as his frustrations grew and he wrestled the Cuban to the floor on three separate occasions. Rodriguez again claimed a wide clear cut decision over the fearsome Briscoe.

Rodriguez started 1968 remaining busy with three fights in Miami before again venturing over to Puerto Rico again this time to face future light heavyweight champion Vicente Rondon from Venezuela. Rondon was a huge middleweight at 6 3 and didn’t make weight for the bout with Rodriguez as he claimed a decision victory over the Cuban. They re-matched just six weeks later in the same venue with Rodriguez avenging that setback with a unanimous decision victory. Rodriguez remained busy but the title shot still eluded him as he would fight twice more in 1968 and then six times in 1969 until finally getting a chance at the middleweight title now held by the Italian Nino Benvenuti.

“When Luis Rodriguez came to San Diego to prepare for the title elimination bout with Rafael Gutierrez, I remember him being interviewed on the local station. He was asked about his thoughts about the upcoming bout, but all he wanted to talk about was his four fight series with Emile Griffith. ‘I beat Griffith four times but they rob me’, he frantically tried to explain. The interviewer went on trying to get Rodriguez focused on his fight with the Mexican middleweight champion at the Sports Arena, but Luis brushed him off. ‘I should have been the welterweight champion all that time, but they rob me’, he protested”, said San Diego artist Roger Esty.

“Rodriguez was putting on the finishing touches on his training at the Stardust Hotel in Mission Valley. Angelo Dundee had arrived to keep an eye on things, but it was obvious that Luis was calling the shots everyday about how he was going to conduct his workouts. He was in a surly mood and didn’t back off on his sparring partners. Local fighters Charley “Bad News” Austin, Johnny Wise, and Victor Basilio (who fought on the undercard) provided the practice opposition. Wise, I remember, didn’t want to wear headgear because he claimed he had a facial rash and didn’t want to get punched in the face. When he tried to explain to Rodriguez about the irritation all that did was irritate Luis. He threw the headgear at Wise and told him if he didn’t put it on he could go home. Wise sulked, put on the headgear, and proceeded to get bashed around the ring by Rodriguez”, he added.

(Almost) conquering Rome

Rodriguez travelled to Rome to challenge Benvenuti for the title he had won, lost and regained against Emile Griffith in their classic trilogy. Prior to making his mark at Madison Square Garden, Benvenuti had been the super welterweight world champion and the boxer of the Rome Olympics in 1960. He came to the ring with an impressive 79-3-1 record. Rodriguez surprised the partisan crowd with his boxing skills as he was able to cut Benvenuti early leaving him a bloody mask as he built up a points lead. Prior to the fight Benvenuti had been complaining about the appointment of the referee, Mario Carabellese perhaps in an attempt to get preferential treatment. It seemed to work as the visiting fighter was warned four times for head butts which didn’t happen and Benvenuti wasn’t reprimanded for any of his mishaps and there were plenty.

Sensing the championship was in one hand and perhaps remembering the injustices of the Griffith bouts Rodriguez told his corner he wanted to go for the kill in the 11th round. Dundee advised against it knowing his man was in control of the fight and if the referee wasn’t going to stop the fight on account of the blood flowing from Benvenuti then he had the decision in the bag. Unfortunately for Rodriguez he was caught with a thunderous left hook from out of nowhere which completely separated him from his senses and he was counted out at 1:10 of the round. The Cuban, usually so durable, was hit by a perfect punch and had snatched defeat from victory in cruel fashion. Benvenuti, who had looked glassy eyed and ready to go was suddenly being hoisted into the air by fans that had made their way into the ring. In the dressing room after the fight Rodriguez said, “It was my destiny,” he said. “It is like my nose, my destiny. It comes from my grandfather. I must protect it, but I can’t change it.”

Undeterred by the knockout loss to Benvenuti, Rodriguez now a veteran of 104 fights and at the age of 33 kept his busy schedule going into 1970 seeking another shot at the middleweight crown. He would fight eight times this year suffering just one loss – a controversial decision over previous knockout victim Jose Gonzalez of Puerto Rico. The bout took place in Puerto Rico and Gonzalez was able to get away with weighing in well over the middleweight limit. Rodriguez reversed this loss by scoring a unanimous decision back in Miami just two months later.

In 1971 Rodriguez managed to score a couple of significant victories but was showing clear signs of wear and tear after a long and distinguished career. He was able to score a split decision over Bobby Cassidy in Miami before scoring a shocking first round knockout victory over the favored Tony Mundine in his home country of Australia. Rodriguez landed a big left hook 30 seconds into the round and followed up with an attack punctuating with a right hand to finish the fight at 52 seconds of the first round. That would be the last significant victory of his great career as he lost his next two bouts before going 2-2 in his final four bouts before retiring at the age of 35.

Retirement and death of a champion

In retirement the affable Rodriguez trained amateur boxers for the city of Miami, worked in a warehouse and owned a bar. Over time he began to drink heavily and saw his health deteriorate. He had undergone two years on kidney dialysis and then had a heart operation but passed away three weeks later on July 8th, 1996 at South Shore Hospital in Miami Beach. He was survived by his wife, a son, his mother and two sisters. The late great champion was immortalized in boxing history when he was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York the following summer. It was long overdue for a champion who had unfairly been forgotten over time. Of the boxers that defected during that golden age of Cuban boxing, the other two that got inducted into Canastota were Jose Napoles and Sugar Ramos. They became national heroes in Mexico and retained that popularity in retirement whereas Rodriguez would have a harder time winning over the public in the United States despite his good nature and happy demeanor.

Legacy and praise

The fact that Rodriguez’ official record against Emile Griffith is 1-3 and his lone title reign was just three months does not do Rodriguez justice and has probably been the main catalyst for the criminal overlooking for what was a tremendous career by a truly special prizefighter. Unfortunately it is easy for folks to just view Griffith’s name on his resume, look at the official verdicts and the short reign as champion at welterweight and completely miss out on the context of those fights, the quality of the era and the plethora of top fighters he beat and the staggering number of quality fighters he outclassed in the middleweight division despite barely weighing in a pound or two over the welterweight limit. The vast majority felt Rodriguez was at no worse Griffith’s equal. “I had Rodriguez winning three of those fights. I was at the third fight (at Madison Square Garden) and Rodriguez was hosed that night. He is very underrated”, said legendary hall of fame promoter Russel J. Peltz.

He would fight often and often on short notice more often than not in the opponent’s backyard. A quick skim through a record doesn’t tell the story of how unjust certain decisions were and I can’t think of many fighters in history whose historical standing has been affected more by unjust decisions in major fights. His consistency was remarkable; by the time of the Benvenuti bout he’d scored a victory over every opponent of his 103 bout career and had defeated 16 top 10 ranked opponents in the era of one ranking organization. There was no selective matchmaking; he took on all different styles from slick boxers to heavy handed sluggers and he took on fighters that were visibly larger than him on a regular basis.

“Rodriguez, in my opinion, is one of the most-underrated boxers ever. He doesn’t get enough credit for how good he was and for who he beat. He had the misfortune of being a welterweight at the same time Emile Griffith was in that weight class. They fought four times and Luis lost three of them, all by split decision, but I thought my guy won every one of those losses. The sad thing is that the one time he beat Griffith, which was for the title he didn’t really get any attention. Featherweight champ Davey Moore, who was knocked out by Sugar Ramos on that card in Los Angeles, fell into a coma and later died. That sad news overshadowed what should have been Luis’ shining moment. He was a magnificent fighter. He fought the toughest middleweights out there at the time and outclassed most of them. He played with (Rubin) “Hurricane” Carter. It broke my heart that Luis never got his due”, said Angelo Dundee.

“He had exceptional balance and reflexes and he had very long arms – he could pick a nickel of the floor without bending his knees. Luis was always in great shape and he was a busybody; he threw a lot of punches. Hurricane Carter got so frustrated fighting him, he picked him up and tried to throw him over the ropes”, he added.

“In my opinion Rodriguez was the best Cuban fighter ever”, said Frankie Otero. “He was hard to decipher. He would outbox the boxers and outthink the punchers. He wasn’t spectacular, like Kid Gavilan but I pick him based on the number of top welterweights and middleweights he beat”. The Ring magazine had Rodriguez rated third behind Kid Chocolate and Kid Gavilan on their list of greatest Cuban boxers whereas Enrique Encinosa said, “An argument can be made for a four way tie between Chocolate, Gavilan, Napoles and Rodriguez. They all had merits for the top spot.”
“Rodriguez was probably the most underrated fighter of the past half century. He was a gifted guy, and he made winning look so easy. When he fought Hurricane Carter, he was a skinny welterweight in against a full-grown middleweight, and in two fights he was never in trouble”, Kaplan. “Rodriguez had a beautiful left jab; it was so fluid. And he had this little defensive motion where he’d make you miss by inches. He fought everybody. He was so unspectacular, that’s why I think he’s not remembered these days”

“I believe Rodriguez had the shortest reign of any welterweight champion-less than 90 days. Then I go back to that interview in San Diego. He wanted the world to know that the judges got it wrong. They did those bum calls and Luis not seeing Nino’s big left hook coming would have made put Rodriguez in the elite pantheon of boxing legends. A first pick in the IBHOF. A fighter mentioned in the same breath as Leonard, Duran, Hearns and Hagler”, said San Diego boxing artist Roger Esty.

“Calling Luis Rodriguez one of the greatest fighters who should have been would be a travesty. He was his loudest advocate of his caliber as a fighter. He wanted to get the word out that’s all. Maybe it was sour grapes, but he got screwed and the scribes and the public didn’t put up much of a clamor. Luis is not with us any longer. Neither are the fighters who fought him nor the brain trust that was with him. 90 days as champ for a great fighter like Luis? Let’s get the word out and make it household”, Esty added.

The case of Rodriguez being one of the most underappreciated legends in boxing history is luckily strengthened by a fairly extensive amount of his footage surviving and a style that not only holds up over time but perhaps appreciates with time. It is really just a matter of the current generation and future generations making sure to check out his record and do the research and then watch the film. While it is true that his legacy has been hurt by some controversial decisions and a small, cruel twist of fate here and there, he still has the career and resume any up and coming fighter would dream of; a defining fighter in a stacked era, one of the greatest boxers from an iconic boxing nation and a plaque in the international boxing hall of fame. Rodriguez never had it easy, but more often than not, he made it look easy.